Report: Italian ship's crew detained in Tripoli

ROME (AP) - Italy said Sunday it was checking reports that
Libyan officials had detained the crew of an Italian ship docked in
Tripoli and prevented the vessel from leaving port, a day after
U.S. and European forces launched air and missile strikes to
enforce a no-fly zone over Libya.

The ANSA news agency reported the "Asso 22" tug of the
Naples-based shipping company Augusta Offshore SrL has eight
Italian, two Indian and one Ukrainian crew members aboard. Citing
unnamed sources, ANSA said armed men, including one believed to be
the Tripoli port commander, detained the crew as Libyan workers
aboard were disembarking Saturday in Tripoli's port.

An Italian foreign ministry spokesman said officials were
checking the report and that the company was in contact with the
crew.

Calls to Augusta Offshore went unanswered Sunday.

Italy, Libya's former colonial ruler, has allowed seven military
bases to be used by international forces enforcing the
U.N.-mandated no-fly zone over Libya and said it was prepared to
offer fighter aircraft as well if needed.

As U.S., French and British cruise missile and air strikes began
Saturday, Premier Silvio Berlusconi assured Italians that Moammar
Gadhafi's regime didn't have the capacity to strike Italian
territory. Nevertheless, the mayor of the tiny island of Lampedusa,
which is closer to the African continent than the Italian mainland,
said Sunday he was worried about possible retaliation.

In 1986, Gadhafi fired a missile at Lampedusa, which at the time
housed a U.S. Coast Guard installation, after the U.S. bombed
Tripoli and Benghazi in retaliation for what Washington said was
Libya's support for terrorism. The missile fell harmlessly in the
sea.